Heisei 25, April 30
What once would have been a hard hike has now become easy.
Eight years have passed since my first attempts at hiking while huffing and puffing along the routes of the Kumano Kodo.
Recently, I finally had a chance to walk the Hotoke-zaka section of the Ohechi route. It was beautiful from the start point where I and my travel companions crossed the river by ferry just as pilgrims did from long ago. Then, we started up the steep slope of the mountain and stopped frequently to get our wind back.
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A
little harmonica music, a gentle breeze, friendly people, a simple lunch of
rice balls and Japanese egg omelets along the way gave balance to the struggles
of getting down the much steeper downhill slopes.Where there are upward paths, there are almost always downward paths along the sections of the pilgrimage routes. For some hikers, going down the mountains is easier. For me, going
Pushing myself up
The mountain paths of old
Down - - laughing knees
In Japanese, the expression for "shaky knees" from too much exertion is “hiza ga warau.” “Hiza” is knee, and “warau” is laugh. I love that expression though I hate it when my knees turn to rubber on long, steep downhill hikes.
